The Eyepiece

MONTHLY MEETING 
     Our August monthly meeting will be on Wednesday, August 12th from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM at the Neville Public Museum.  This month our topic is The Astronomical League and our speakers are Don & Katrina DeWitt.  Hope to see you there! 

PARMENTIER OBSERVATORY WEEKEND WITH NEWSTAR & SHEBOYGAN 
     August 14-15 is scheduled for our annual observing weekend with NEWSTAR and  Sheboygan.  Members of all three clubs are welcome to come out. 

15TH ANNUAL CLUB PICNIC 
     Our 15th annual club picnic will be held on Saturday August 15th at Perkins Park in Green Bay.  Please see related article on page 2.  

NEWSTAR MONTHLY MEETING
     The monthly NEWSTAR meeting will be on Wednesday, August 19th.  Call Don DeWitt at 

NORTHWOODS STARFEST
     The weekend of August 21-23 is the annual Northwoods Starfest in Chippewa Falls, WI.  There was a complete write-up in last months newsletter.  If you are interested in going, contact Gary Baier at 391-9654.

NEW MEMBER WELCOME MAT
     We had two new people join the club in July.  Andy Gregory, 120 S. Superior Street, De Pere 54115.  Also joining was Roy Lukes, 3962 Hillside Road, Egg Harbor, 54209.  Welcome to the club Andy and Roy!

DOWN THE ROAD

ASTROFEST
     In last months newsletter there was a registration form for Astrofest.  If you haven't sent your form in yet, you need to do so before August 22 to avoid paying the $100.00 late fee.  

PUBLIC OBSERVING WEEKEND
     Friday and Saturday, September 25-26 are scheduled for Public Observing at the Wildlife Sanctuary.  More information in next months newsletter. 

EYEPIECE FEATURES

15TH ANNUAL CLUB PICNIC
     by Katrina DeWitt

     Once again it's that time of year. A day filled with fun, excitement, thrills, spills, smart talk, and the passion for astronomy.  Oh, and did I mention there would be a lot of food available to consume?
     It's the 15th annual NPMAS club picnic.  This gala event will be held on Saturday, August 15th from 2:00 until 7:00 p.m.  The location has changed to Perkins Park on Green Bay's west side.  See map on page 5 of this months newsletter.
     If you have never attended a club picnic before let me tell you a little about it.  This is a gala event that's held rain or shine and is intended for all members and their families.  No expense is spared either!  The club provides the charcoal, lighter fluid, napkins, plates and silverware for all those attending. 
     However, all those attending are expected to bring their own meat and buns as well as a dish to pass for the group at large.  Any type of dish to pass is acceptable as past experience has shown, these people eat almost anything!!  We also need three or four volunteers to bring grills. As a general rule, grilling gets underway about 4:30 p.m. If you can help, let us know!
     This picnic is open to all club members along with their family and friends. 

BOOK CORNER
     by Wayne Kuhn

STAR ATLASES FOR THE BEGINNER
     The following are examples of the many guides to the stars available for the novice astronomer.  They all concentrate on identifying constellations and the brightest stars - the first step to navigating the night sky.

THE NIGHT SKY PLANISPHERE
Robert Chandler - Author
Sky Publishing - $5.35 for cardboard, $8.95 for laminated with NPMAS 10% discount

     Planispheres are usually the first guide used by the budding astronomer.  They are very affordable and easy to use.  Just line up the day of the year on the outer ring and it will display a miniature map of the night sky.  They are best for learning the constellations and getting oriented quickly.  Most planispheres show only stars of 5th magnitude or less and no deep sky objects.
 

     The Star Book's main purpose is to acquaint you with the constellations that are visible from mid-northern latitudes.  The book is designed to be held overhead, which is why East and West seem to be reversed.  Stand facing South and hold the chart overhead so that the cardinal directions match those on the ground.  The map will then match the night sky.
     There are eight charts, two for each season such as early Spring and late Spring.  On the facing page is a written tour of the most prominent stars and constellations visible.  Though the Star Book is larger and thus more detail than the average planisphere, it is still best used for identifying constellations and bright stars.  A few of the brighter deep sky objects are also shown.

BRIGHT STAR ATLAS 2000.0
Wil Tirion - Author
Sky Publishing - $9.85 with NPMAS 10% discount

     This affordable starter atlas is a step up from planispheres, showing much more than just constellations and bright stars.  There are ten black and white maps covering the entire sky with stars shown down to magnitude 6.5. 
     On the facing page of each map is a list of the brightest deep sky objects including Galaxies, Open Clusters, Globular Clusters, Planetary Nebula, Double Stars, Variable Stars and others.  Each object has NGC and common names, R.A., Dec., constellation, magnitude, and size.  There are 600 deep sky objects total throughout the  atlas.
     Six seasonal finder charts help you get oriented quickly.  There are 32 laminated pages, spiral bound, in a 9 x 12 inch soft cover book. This is a true atlas that a beginner can "cut his astronomy teeth on" before graduating to the larger atlases.

     It has been nice to observe again these past few months.  Somehow I got a few clear evenings in between the cloudy ones.  However, most of the objects I observed were too faint to actually write about.  Never-the-less I always try to view at least a couple bright favorites during every observing session.  I usually try to observe these bright ones last.  The bright deep sky objects always look better when your eyes are use to viewing faint galaxies all night.
     For the first time this year I had a good view of M15 and M2.  Both of these globular clusters are labeled as compact, but also very rich.  M15 and M2 are also located at the same area of the sky.  M15 is very easy to find.  I usually look for the great Pegasus square as a starting point at the south-western corner of the square.  Then I look for a string of a few bright stars as shown in my map on page 4.  The two last stars of this string actually point toward M15.
     In a telescope, M15 will look small compared to M13 and M22.  Smaller clusters are hard to resolve with smaller telescopes.  To get a good view of M15, a 6" diameter telescope or larger will do the job.  Good sky conditions will be beneficial.  A magnification of 150x or more will bring out the beauty of this cluster.  M15 also has one unique feature over most globular clusters, it contains a planetary nebula within its boundaries.  This nebula (K648) is at the northeast side of the cluster.  M15 has a diameter of 130 light years and is about 38,000 light years away.
     M2 is located a little more south than M15.  I usually will take the end star that points to M15 as a starting point.  Then I look for a bright star in Aquarius directly south.  M2 is located between these two stars, but closer to the southern star as shown in my map.  In the finder scope, M2 also requires at least 150x and at least a 6" diameter scope to resolve a good image.